Public Speaking Course:

Gimme Three Steps

Lynyrd Skynyrd came out with a song that said, 'Gimme three steps, gimme
three steps mister, gimme three steps towards the door.' I try to
remember the words of that song when I am moving around during a presentation. Here are some tips for moving on stage that I teach in my
public speaking
course.

While on stage, make sure that you have a purpose in
your movement. If you take a step, go at least three steps in that direction
to tell the audience you are moving for a reason. One of the biggest
mistakes I see, even with top speakers, is that many of them
wander all over the stage or take a step here and a step there. This is extremely
distracting to the audience.

When making an important point during your presentation, move toward
the audience. Three steps forward from center stage is a very
powerful position that will command attention (especially if you walked
right off the stage and fell on your face -- hahaha).

Upstage (away from the audience) left and right are usually weak positions.
They can be used when you feel you are overpowering the audience or
when you want to take attention away from yourself and direct the audience to do some task, such as talk among
themselves.

Upstage center is also a strong position, but one that makes you appear
disconnected from the audience. I usually avoid this position.

Try walking right into the crowd. I do this when I want to be playful or really get the audience
involved. I might have to come down off the stage,
but it's worth it. Good public speakers will get really connected with
the audience. I am also sending a
message that I really know what I am doing. I don't need any notes.
I don't need any visuals. I don't need anything but interaction with
them. They love it!

The main thing you have to watch out for when you are out in the audience
is that in large rooms with lots of attendees many people can't see
you, so they start to lose interest if you stay out there too long.
This is counteracted if you are being projected on a large screen and
you have an on-the-ball and well-rehearsed video crew. (If you don't
alert the video crew ahead of time of your intentions, they will be
scrambling to follow you and it won't look good on the screen.) You
will probably be lit poorly too. When you are being projected, think
about toning down your overall movement because it's not easy to follow
you wildly around the stage with a video camera. These movements are
best practiced on your public speaking course in order to master their
effectiveness.